Near Exide plant, dangerous lead levels in some yards are 100 times above health limits
Source: By Tony Barboza and Ben Poston, Los Angeles Times
July 20, 2016, 3:00 a.m.
Homes, schools and at least one day-care center near a shuttered Vernon battery recycler are contaminated with higher levels of brain-damaging lead than previously disclosed, with soil samples at some properties found to be so hazardous they are as much as 100 times above California’s health standard, state and county records show.
The public remains largely in the dark about where and at what concentrations the poisonous metal has been detected in neighborhoods near the Exide Technologies plant because state regulators have failed to release pollution readings for the vast majority of properties.
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control says it has tested the soil of more than 2,400 homes. Despite repeated requests from The Times, the agency provided readings for just 269 properties.
A summary of results for 1,190 homes released Friday by the department was not broken down by property or location, but indicated thousands of soil samples were above state health standards and hundreds were at hazardous waste levels.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-dangerous-lead-levels-20160714-snap-story.html
Related: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2995582-Summary-of-soil-sampling-results-near-Exide.html
